Heat exchangers transfer heat from one fluid to another (both liquids and gases are considered fluids). Heat exchangers are used in refrigeration cycles, heat recovery, industrial processes, and conventional power plants. Typical heat exchanger applications are found in vehicles, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, conventional power plants, and industrial processes. Heat exchangers may also be used in renewable energy applications including, for example, fuel cells, concentrated solar power, solar hot water, compressed air energy storage, wind turbine radiators, geothermal power plants, ocean thermal energy conversion, and solar water pasteurization. Additional applications include micro gas turbines for stationary or mobile applications, portable cooling (e.g., hazardous material suits), liquid-cooled electronics, Stirling engines, cryogenics, and natural gas regasification.
The effectiveness η of a heat exchanger is the amount of heat transferred as a fraction of the maximum amount that can be transferred (or roughly the temperature (T) change as a fraction of the ideal temperature change):
                    η        =                                            T                              c                ,                o                                      -                          T                              c                ,                i                                                                        T                              h                ,                i                                      -                          T                              c                ,                i                                                                        Equation        ⁢                                  ⁢        1            For example, if an input hot temperature in a heat exchanger is 70° C., an input cold temperature is 30° C., and the output cold temperature is 65° C., the η would be 87.5%. A typical effectiveness η for heat exchangers is approximately 70%.
In one example, one micro gas turbine regenerator reached η=98% (Wilson, David G. “Wilson TurboPower's David Gordon Wilson Presents Seminal Scientific Paper at International Turbine Congress; Peer-Reviewed Paper Outlines the Theory and Design of Wilson TurboPower's New Revolutionary Heat Exchanger.” Business Wire, May 15, 2006, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2006_May_15/ai_n16361655/pg_1 accessed April, 2008). This promises to produce a 50% efficient micro turbine, which rivals the efficiency of central power generation, but would allow easy recovery of waste heat because of the small size (and thus small heat transportation distance). A gas-to-gas heat exchanger for a fuel cell reached η=97% (Ahuja, Vikas and Roger Green. “Carbon Dioxide Removal to from Air for Alkaline Fuel Cells Operating with Liquid Hydrogen: A Synergistic Advantage.”International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 131-137, 1998).
In general, a heat exchanger includes a core and one or more manifolds. Various arrangements of the elements that provide heat exchange surfaces are possible. One arrangement includes a plurality of plates arranged parallel to each another and spaced apart from each other, such that a plurality of adjacent passageways are formed by the various sets of plates. This arrangement may be referred to as a flat plate heat exchanger. One heat exchange medium is directed through a first set of alternately spaced passages, while the second heat exchange medium is directed through the second set of passageways spaced intermittently with the first set. Thus, heat is transferred from one heat exchange medium to the other through the plates.
Another arrangement includes providing heat exchange elements in the form of elongate tubes which extend through a chamber and are spaced apart from one another. One heat exchange medium is directed into the interior of the tubes, while the other heat exchange medium is directed into the area between and around the outside of the tubes. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,289,281; 3,354,533; 3,911,843; 4,295,255; 5,138,765; and 5,568,835 all disclose two sheets that are hydraulically expanded to form flow channels for one fluid, and then the other fluid flows outside the expanded channels. Some have multiple layers of this arrangement.
Still other arrangements have been configured. For example, Lowenstein describes extrusion of one row of tubes with 1.2 mm inside diameter and 0.2 mm wall thickness (Lowenstein, Andrew; “A Zero Carryover Liquid-Desiccant Air Conditioner for Solar Applications,” ASME/SOLAR06, Denver, Colo., USA, Jul. 8-13, 2006). It may be possible to extrude multiple rows of tubes, or just stack single rows. The two fluids may be directed in alternate tubes flowing in opposite directions in a “chessboard” fashion (see prior art FIG. 1). A manifold arrangement for this “chessboard” pattern is described by Veltkamp in U.S. Pat. No. 5,725,051 (the '051 patent) and is shown in prior art FIG. 2. The manifold is constructed using multiple sections (11, 10, 7) that distribute fluid from two external ports ultimately across a multiplicity of ports to interface with the stack of ducts in the core. An alternate manifold scheme for the “chessboard” is shown in prior art FIG. 3 of the '051 patent, where the ducts are configured in a diagonal pattern with each duct in a row transporting a common temperature fluid. Both manifold types are described as constructed using injection molding techniques. However, the alignment of the heat exchanger core and manifold may be problematic for microchannels. Arranging the heat exchanger core with alternating triangles is also described in the '051 patent.
As shown in prior art FIG. 4, Carman also describes a triangular arrangement for a microturbine heat exchanger. (Carman, B. G.; J. S. Kapat; L. C. Chow; and L. An; “Impact of a Ceramic Microchannel Heat Exchanger on a Micro Turbine,” Proceedings of the ASME Turbo Expo 2002, p. 1053-1060, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Jun. 3-6, 2002). Carman describes solidifying a polymer with a laser, producing 0.05 mm walls, and then pyrolizing the polymer into a ceramic to handle high fluid pressures. U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,310 issued to Perry (the '310 patent) proposes welding polymer films together along lines and expansion to produce a “chessboard” flow pattern as shown in prior art FIG. 5. However, spacers have to be placed between the layers so the weld does not go through more than two layers. Also, it is difficult to align the above core structure with the manifold for microchannels.
The '310 also discloses an automated process for manufacturing a heat exchanger as exemplified in prior art FIG. 6 using film from rollers and spacers, but the core still has to be aligned with the manifold after manufacturing in a process that does not work well for microchannels. U.S. Pat. No. 6,758,261 issued to Ramm-Schmidt also describes welding two polymer layers (3) together and to a support layer (4) and then stacking the welded layers to form a heat exchanger with flow channels (5, 7), as shown in prior art FIG. 7. Flow channels (5) are depicted as semi-circular while flow channel spaces (7) are diamond-shaped. However, if a fluid in the flow channels (7) has a much higher pressure, then the diamond flow channels (7) turn into cylinders and collapse the complementary flow channels (5). Such a core design is also difficult to align with a manifold if the channels are small.
The information included in this Background section of the specification, including any references cited herein and any description or discussion thereof, is included for technical reference purposes only and is not to be regarded subject matter by which the scope of the invention is to be bound.